WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ImmunoMolecular Therapeutics, Inc. (“IM Therapeutics”), a leading innovator in the field of precision medicine for autoimmune disease, announced today that Mr. Tom Shea and Dr. Sarah Bird have joined its senior management team. Tom has joined as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer (CFO/COO) and Sarah has been promoted to the position of Vice President, Clinical Development.
Tom has over 30 years of professional financial experience ranging from early-stage start-ups to commercial-stage and publicly traded companies. Most recently, Tom served as CFO of ImmusanT, a clinical stage therapeutic company in celiac disease and type 1 diabetes. He has served as CFO and has been involved in growth operations of a number of biotech companies, most notably Albireo Pharma, developing products for children with severe liver diseases, Tolerx, Inc., an immunology company focused on type 1 diabetes, and Cubist Pharmaceuticals, an infectious disease company. Over his career, Tom has led executive teams in raising significant capital and completing transactions for strategic collaborations. In addition, Tom has served as a Board Member of the New England chapter of JDRF, a world-renowned foundation devoted to the treatment and cure of T1D.
Sarah joined IM Therapeutics at its founding stage to help design and lead its clinical program development as Director, Clinical Development. She is a seasoned professional with over 20 years’ experience leading programs in basic, translational and clinical research. She has worked in academia, biotech and device industries in technologies from start-up to commercial stage. In her graduate and postdoctoral work at St Louis School of Medicine and later as a JDRF Fellow at the U. of Colorado, her research focused on autoimmune pathogenesis and potential therapeutic approaches. Sarah has led global programs at Medtronic, Gilead and pharmaceutical companies in both clinical and medical affairs managing cross-functional teams responsible for strategy, planning and execution. Sarah has led teams overseeing regulatory submissions and product approvals while actively raising physician and patient awareness in areas of unmet medical need.
“I am excited to be working closely with Sarah and Tom as we advance our clinical programs and grow our pipeline,” said Nandan Padukone, Ph.D., CEO of IM Therapeutics. “Both Tom and Sarah have shown a great commitment to T1D and to bringing new drug programs in autoimmune disease to the clinic.”
“I find the underlying biology that genetically targets specific autoimmune pathogeneses to be fascinating and a unique opportunity to translate to clinical practice”, said Dr. Bird. “It is great to work with highly motivated people to impact patient care and personalized medicine,” she added.
Mr. Shea further added, “I’ve had a long-standing interest in helping to progress companies working within the autoimmune space. I am pleased to be a part of this team and very hopeful of the targeted approach we are testing in T1D and other autoimmune diseases.”
The Company recently announced that the first subject was dosed in a Phase 1 study of its lead drug, IMT-002, an oral drug designed as a selective HLA-DQ8 blocker for treatment of T1D and DQ8-related disease.
About IM Therapeutics
IM Therapeutics is a clinical stage company developing personalized medicines for autoimmune diseases by building oral drug therapies against human leukocyte antigen (HLA) variants that confer high risk of disease. The Company platform screens millions of compounds for optimal docking within HLA proteins together with rational drug design and bioassays to develop targeted therapeutic candidates. In addition to its lead drug, IMT-002, directed at HLA-DQ8 activity for treatment of type 1 diabetes, the Company is building a broad pipeline of drugs against HLA targets such as DQ2, DR3 and DR4 in a range of autoimmune disorders including celiac disease. http://imtherapeutics.com/